A Bicchu-Aoe juyo katana By Tsugunao, dated 1361
£80,000 - £90,000
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Of naginata-zukuri, mitsu-mune, a broad and shallow curvature, an extended kissaki, forged in tightly packed itame-hada in jinie with fine utsuri, the tempered edge in flamboyant choji-midare in nioi with yo, konie and kinsuji, the boshi with choji-midare, the suriage tang with later osujikai file marks, two holes, signed Bitchu (no) kuni ju Tsugunao saku and dated Enbun roku-nen san-gatsuhi (A day in the third month of 1361), carved naginata-bi and marudome on the tang, two-piece gold-foil habaki; in shirasaya with inscription and signed by Honma Junji and dated Heisei gansai kinoto uzuki kichijitsu ki kore (April, 1989). The blade 94cm (37in) long. (2).
Footnotes
刀 銘「備中国住次直作 延文六年三月日」 延文6年（1361年）
With NBTHK Juyo Token certificate awarded at the Juyo shinsa in 1979.
This is only the second blade by Tsugunao to have been offered for sale in the West for over twenty years, the first being a tachi blade, dated 1347, from the Walter Compton collection, sold at Christie's New York, 22nd October 1992, lot 211.
Tsugunao was an outstanding representative of the later Nanbokucho-period Bitchu-Aoe School. During this period, which scholars believe ran from around 1350-1370, Aoe smiths tended to produce blades with tight, clear ko-itame-hada, distinct from the chirimen-hada which was associated with earlier Aoe work. The hamon which till now had been confined mostly to saka-choji-midare gradually became more flamboyant and diverse in its expression, as can be seen on the blade here. However, the most significant development in the work of later Aoe smiths was that their hamon became exclusively based in nioi.
Tsugunao was a masterful smith, excelling at both straight sugu-ha and specatacular choji-midare temper lines exhibited on the present example. As was the tendency among Aoe smiths of the Nanbokucho period, Tsugunao has signed and dated this sword in parallel lines.
